Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler recounts pitching their second travel book, 'Southeast Asia on a Shoestring', to a major bookseller in Singapore in the 1970s.
Insight
Wheeler: Lonely Planet grew through slow compounding momentum, not instant hypergrowth
“It wasn't like your .com or, you know, social media set up these days. They start on one day, and a week later they're worth a billion dollars. That wasn't us at all. We, our business grew very slowly, and I think it was more like the snowball rolling downhill…”
Assertion Partly supported
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet sold 100,000 copies of its India guidebook
“Suddenly we had this book that was over 700 pages, and it sold for, you know, double figures. It was 12 dollars or 14 dollars or something instead of three or four, and it just sold, it sold, we sold a 100,000 copies of it.”
Assertion Supported
The first Lonely Planet guidebook was 96 pages and cost $1.80
“It sold for, it was 96 pages. It sold for one dollar 80.”
Assertion Partly supported
Lonely Planet's India guide sold 100,000 copies at $12 to $14
“And, ah, suddenly we had this book that was over 700 pages, and it sold for, you know, double figures. It was 12 dollars or 14 dollars or something instead of three or four, and it just sold, it sold, we sold a 100,000 copies of it.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lonely Planet's early success rode baby boomer travel trends
“We came along when the baby boomers were suddenly deciding they needed to go to more interesting places than their parents did. So there was that element. They were a big market.”
Disclosure
Tony Wheeler: Lonely Planet Originated from Daily Travel Cost and Mileage Logs
“Oh, just where we stayed, and what it cost, and how many miles the car had covered that day, and, you know, now I think about the palaces, and the walls, and the fortresses, you know, those things are just as important, but in those days it was very much the i…”